News reports
| NEWS | |  | | | SPORT | | | | | | COMPETITIONS | | Confronting the clampers
Reporter Alex Hayes went to a car compound near Iver to collect a car which had been towed away by a clamping company.
Click here for the audio slideshow
|
|
|
|
Stoned by angry clampers
 |
| Alex Hayes confronts the clampers. |
THE legislation covering the clamping and towing of vehicles parked on private property is vague at best, the only legal requirements for operators being a Security Industry Association licence and a receipt being issued.
Paul Coleman, an ad rep for Newsquest, the Harrow Times parent company, went to visit a friend on December 1 and parked in the car park of the Coach and Horses pub in London Road, Hounslow.
He returned to find the car gone, so reported it stolen to police.
However, more than two weeks later he received a call from police telling him they had found his car in a compound - having been towed by a private company called Regional Clamping Services, which operates in the car park.
The car had been at the compound for 23 days, and the release fee was £1,140, made up of a £300 towing fee and £35-a-day storage.
I went with Paul to the compound on a remote industrial complex in wasteland near Iver, Middlesex, and waited for more than an hour for the operators to arrive.
When they did arrive there were six clampers who had two more vehicles in tow. They became agitated and aggressive at the site of a reporter and photographer.
At one point one of them approached me and demanded I delete all footage we had taken or he would not release the car.
When challenged over the legal grounds of this statement he simply walked away.
When I approached him to ask him why again, his colleagues crowded round me and started asking me if I was a shirt-lifter and threatening to clamp the car our photographer was sitting in.
One of them asked of the car was registered at my house, insinutaing he was going to trace my address, even though the company had made no effort to find the owners of the cars they had clamped previously.
Eventually the cash-only payment was made and the car was released from the compound, but as we drove away stones and bolts were hurled at our car by the employees.
The whole visit was intimidating, from the remote, secluded, setting to the attitude of the employees of the company and the long wait we had to endure.
However, as long as legislation remains lax, events like this will occur on a daily basis to people across the capital.
What treatment have you received at the hands of car clampers? Send us your stories, and sign our online petition.
Click here to see an audio slideshow of our visit to the car compound
1:56pm Thursday 27th December 2007
Print 
Email this 
CommentPosted by: Julian, Hayes on 1:57am Fri 4 Jan 08
The government is so determined to discourage the private ownership of the means of transport (our cars) that I honestly believe it is very keen on this sort of thing which is why it happily allows the DLA to give these thugs our home addresses if it wants them.
The government is so determined to discourage the private ownership of the means of transport (our cars) that I honestly believe it is very keen on this sort of thing which is why it happily allows the DLA to give these thugs our home addresses if it wants them.
Posted by: james, West Ealing on 1:52am Sun 13 Jan 08
These people are tantamount to criminals and what they get away with is disgusting. On the other hand surely there were signs in the pub car park saying 'Patrons Only' or some such. If he wasn't visiting the premises in question then he wasn't allowed to park there.
These people are tantamount to criminals and what they get away with is disgusting. On the other hand surely there were signs in the pub car park saying 'Patrons Only' or some such. If he wasn't visiting the premises in question then he wasn't allowed to park there.
Posted by: AJ, Uxbridge on 5:04pm Thu 31 Jan 08
James,
It's not even a question of whether people are right or wrong to park in a particular spot, but whether others are allowed to extort enormous and totally outrageous sums of money from them with menaces. These 'firms' need to be properly regulated - it's getting to be like the Wild West out there.
James,
It's not even a question of whether people are right or wrong to park in a particular spot, but whether others are allowed to extort enormous and totally outrageous sums of money from them with menaces. These 'firms' need to be properly regulated - it's getting to be like the Wild West out there.
Posted by: Paul, Harrow HA2 on 10:34pm Sat 16 Feb 08
AJ,
Look at it another way: You can park on my land, if you agree to pay a £150 fee. If you don't want to pay the fee, don't park there.
Nobody complains about, for example, BA charging £5000+ for first class flights to the other side of the world, calling that extortion - what's the difference?
AJ,
Look at it another way: You can park on my land, if you agree to pay a £150 fee. If you don't want to pay the fee, don't park there.
Nobody complains about, for example, BA charging £5000+ for first class flights to the other side of the world, calling that extortion - what's the difference?
Posted by: JOHN, UXBRIDGE on 2:38pm Fri 18 Apr 08
NO MORE UPDATES ON REGIONAL PARKING, WHATS HAPPENING WITH THEM?? ANY MORE INVESTIGATION DID U REPORT THEM TO SIA ETC, CHARGES ARE HIGHER ON RECENT SIGNS I SAW
NO MORE UPDATES ON REGIONAL PARKING, WHATS HAPPENING WITH THEM?? ANY MORE INVESTIGATION DID U REPORT THEM TO SIA ETC, CHARGES ARE HIGHER ON RECENT SIGNS I SAW
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
